Chapter 23 - Preparing the Trap

Jamie got into his van, and followed Anna's red ute to the cattle ranch, with a blue van following after them. As they made their way across the town, he started to see some demolished houses along the outer perimeter of the town, looking like they had been swept away and burnt. In one area in particular, he could see a little girl sobbing by the corpse of a boy in their early teens, while two adults were shifting through the house desperately, looking for something.

Eventually, they turned onto a dirt road, and followed it down to a large black shed house, glossy black, with a steel door visible in the front, and a garage door at the side of the structure, along with dry grass surrounding it. Anna pulled up on the dry grass in front of the shed house, honking as she did so, and Jamie and the blue van parked on both sides of the red ute. Jamie got out of the van and opened the back door. His bonded beasts leaped out of the van, and he shut the door behind him and started walking to Anna as she waited by her ute. When Jamie and the girl where near Anna, the blonde teen keeping her beasts in the van, she led them to the shed house.

Just as they were about to approach the door, a slightly pudgy man in a plain grey shirt and blue jeans, grey hair and tan skin opened the door from the inside and walked outside. He nodded to Anna and said "Hey Anna, what brings your here? I was about to head to the shelter."

"Hey Steven. These two will help safeguard your livestock tonight."

Steven turned to look at Jamie and the blonde teenager behind Anna, then scrutinized the beasts following Jamie. His eyes widened up slightly upon seeing Blackwing behind Jamie. He gave a smile and said. "I hope you two are up to the task. They usually kill two cattle each night. If you can't handle it, get out of there."

Anna turned around to the two and said "Steven can show you where the cattle house is. I'll count the heads of the beasts the next morning. I trust both of you won't steal each other's foxes heads?"

"I won't." "No"

"Good. I'll see you both tomorrow."

Anna waved farewell to Steven, then got in her ute. As the red ute's engine was turning on, Steven said to Jamie and the blonde teen. "Get in your vans. I will show you to the cattle house."

Steven turned back to go inside the house, while Jamie and the blonde teen entered the their vehicles and turned on the engine to the vehicles, waiting.

Five minutes later, a screech could be heard as the garage doors on the shed house started opening up, and a black ute drove out. The windows winded down as the ute started moving and a tan arm could be seen gesturing for the vans to follow. The blue and white vans started following the ute as it drove behind the shed house.

Ten minutes later, they arrived at the grey cattle house. The cattle house was surrounded by grassy plains, with a couple of large trees on the field. Surrounding the field was a small steel fence.

The cattle house in the middle of the field had all the sides covered with steel plated and the single large entrance to the cattle house was closed. Outside, there was two cows tied to a thick tree 80 feet away from the entrance to the cattle house.

Steven tied stopped near the two cows and got out of his ute. Jamie and the blonde female did likewise. Steven tossed the keys to Jamie and said "These two cows are tossed outside to hopefully appease the foxes so they won't attack the rest of the cattle. I have reinforced the door and walls of the cattle house, but if the foxes make a serious attempt at getting in forcibly, the reinforced walls and door won't be able to stop them."

Steven then turned to look at the two cows tried to the tree. "I was prepared for these cows to die, so use them as bait if you want to. Just try to kill as many of these goddamn foxes as you can. They usually start coming in around about two hours. I wish you the best, and don't hesitate to flee if it gets too much. I don't want you to meet the same fate as my dog. I'll grab the keys to the cattlehouse off you tomorrow."

After saying his piece, Steven got into his ute and started to drive off. As he was driving off, Jamie was staring at the keys in his hand blankly, having no idea what to do next. As he was spacing out, the blonde teenager asked "hey, you alright?"

Jamie snapped out of his daze. "uhhh yea. Just thinking about what to do next."

The girl smiled "First time doing this sort of work?"

Jamie blushed, embarrassed. "Yea."

"I've done this a couple of times. You don't mind if I take charge, do you?"

Jamie let out a sigh of relief. "Sure, go ahead."

Jamie tossed the keys to the girl. She caught it, then held out her hand "My name's Amber."

Jamie shook it "Jamie."

Amber looked around the surroundings. "Not much cover. We need to be able to keep our beasts in sight to give commands, while staying safe ourselves."

"I think I have something that might help with that."

Jamie opened the back of his van, pulling out a couple of cameras that could be stuck to a collar. He held it up for amber to see "They can send a live feed to a laptop if we stay within 500 feet."

Amber's eyes widened slightly. "Nice. These will do fine. I have one myself, but it's range is only 200 feet. Did you reinforce your van?"

"No. The good material is too expensive."

"So we will hide inside the cattlehouse, with our flying beasts. Our other beasts will remain outside to kill the foxes, and we will keep an eye on them with the cameras."

Amber looked at the surroundings. "We still need something to hide our beasts close to the cows stuck outside. "

Jamie gestured to the cattlehouse, saying "Let's look inside the cattlehouse to see if there is anything."

Jamie and Amber entered into the cattlehouse. Inside the cattlehouse, was a single pathway down to the back, where a large clusters of hay bales where stored up against the back. On either side of the pathway, were silver feed barriers wielded to steel poles, keeping the cattle in their enclosures.

Amber looked towards the back, at the hay bales. She grinned, saying "That will do nicely."

The duo spent close to one hour scattering the hay bales close to the tied up cattle. When they were done, they put their sleeping bags into the cattlehouse, along with a portable lamp, their laptops with portable batteries, and their esky's with rations and water inside it. They then got their beasts to cut the cattle while scattering some cattle feces from inside the pen on the bales, then attaching the strap on cameras to their bonded beasts and ordering them to hide in the bales. Eve growled when Jamie gave her the command "That stinks."

"Eve, the smell will help hide you from the foxes."

Eve let out another growl, but relented, hiding in the bales, along with the Blue Leopard. Jamie and Amber then drove their vans away, then returned on foot, covering their boots with cattle feces to help hide the smell. Jamie then entered the barn with Blackwing, along with Amber and her Red Lined Eagle.

Once they were inside, Jamie turned to Amber and asked "What now?"

"Now, we wait. Try to get some shuteye, our beast will alert us when they approach."

Jamie took off the boots, and lay in his sleeping bag, to get some sleep. He kept tossing and turning inside the bag in the dim light, failing to get some shuteye. He was too nervous and exited. Jamie eventually gave up on the idea of sleep. As he got up, he noticed Amber sitting on the floor, watching him. He asked her "You can't sleep?"

Amber shook her head. "No. Not with someone tossing and turning next to me."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. I did it my first time as well."

They sat in silence for a minute, before Amber eventually broke the silence. "So, why did you take on a cull request?"

"I want to buy beasts that costs a lot of money."

"Which one?"

"A Three Talon Raven, or a Green Eye Peacock."

Amber's eyes widened. "Ambitious, aren't you?"

Jamie blushed. A moment later, he asked "Why do you need the money?"

Amber sighed. "My father lives in a remote town similar to this one. He received an injury helping to fend of some of the beasts, and the treatment to heal him costs a lot of money."

"I'm sorry."

Amber forced a smile and shook her head. "Don't be. It hap...."

Jamie and both stiffened, receiving a mental communication from their bonded beasts outside. The first foxes had arrived.